Shotgun Shooting—Selecting a Choke

The choke controls the shot string, thus affecting pellet density at various distances. The tighter the constriction, the greater the distance that the cluster of pellets stays together. The looser the constriction, the faster the shot pattern spreads. The most common chokes ranging from tightest to most open are:

Full—might be used for turkey

Modified—might be used for pheasant and goose

Improved Cylinder—might be used for dove and ducks

Cylinder (little to no choke)—might be used for quail

The illustrations of shot strings represent the full load of pellets at a particular instant in time after a shotshell is fired.

Glossary

choke

The degree of narrowing at the muzzle end of the shotgun barrel

shot string

The three-dimensional spread of shot pellets after they leave the barrel